The invention relates to an apparatus for use in producing of men's shirts or blouses which are provided with attached collars having a bottom fabric layer with a joining edge and a top fabric layer.
When producing men's shirts, the collars are usually marked in order to facilitate the application of a collar to the shirt body. Marking is accomplished at the joining edge of the collar bottom part and the edge of the collar top part folded about a lining, at the collar center and at those points, which afterwards have to register with the shoulder seams ending in the neck opening of the shirt body.
These three marks must always be applied evenly distributed over the width of the collar independently of the collar shape or size.
There are already known devices, which are adapted for marking as described above. These known devices mark the joining edge of the collar bottom part and the folded edge of the collar top part by means of needles which form holes, respectively, by means of a knife, which cuts small slots into said edges. Furthermore, there are known marking devices provided with electromagnetically heated filaments, which mark the joining edge by means of brands and simultaneously the folded edge of the collar top part by means of drawing pencils.
When using the aforesaid devices the collar to be marked first needs to be folded in its center in such a manner, that the corners and neck band ends register together. Then, the collar is positioned with its folded section against a stop, which is displaceably secured to the device and adjustable according to the various collar sizes to be handled. Subsequently, the marking tools are lowered upon the collar by actuating a pedal.
Moreover, when using the aforesaid devices, the operator has to see to it, that, prior to the insertion of a collar, the stop has been adjusted according to the collar size to be marked. By using these devices, especially when handling collars of different sizes in series, it is possible, that collars with incorrectly applied marks will get into the following working cycle and greatly disturb the machine's proper operation, if the operator works careless.
Since too wide or unequally wide joining edges complicate the sewing on of the collar and may lead to an incorrect seam of the neck opening, the joining edge of collar bottom part needs to be trimmed, which is accomplished either prior to or after marking at a second working station. For trimming there is commonly used a sewing machine formed with a trimming device. Moreover, such a machine is provided with a guide stop determining the width of the joining edge. Guiding of the collar while being trimmed is performed manually.
It is an object of this invention to provide an apparatus for marking and trimming collars in such a manner that the amount of labor for preparation of the collars to be sewn on to the shirt body will be reduced and that all required operations may be performed by one operator at a single working station in an overlapping manner.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a marking device with automatically acting means for adjusting the marking tools to variable collar sizes and different contours.
It is also an object of the invention to provide the cutting device with automatically acting means for feeding and guiding the collars along the cutting means.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description with particular reference to the accompanying drawings.